Schoolboy mauled by police dog

A boy of 12 was mauled by a police dog after the animal was released by its handler to chase a group of car thieves.

Cameron Cox - who had nothing to do with the gang - needed emergency treatment to wounds where the alsatian sank its teeth into his right arm.

The terrifying ordeal happened while the schoolboy was walking to a corner shop to buy sweets. He unwittingly crossed the path of uniformed police pursuing the joyriders.

As the dog was released, the first person it set eyes on was Cameron. Bounding forward in "attack" mode, it wrapped its jaws round his arm, ignoring its handler's desperate commands to let go of the innocent youngster.

Nursing a bandaged arm, Cameron told The Mail on Sunday: "I heard the police officer shout, 'Stop, or we'll get the dog out.'

"Then he said, 'Right, we're getting the dog out,' because the criminals were running away. The dog came up to me and started biting my arm.

"He didn't really let go when the policeman told him to."

Cameron said he started to feel pain only when the alsatian finally let go of his arm - and then it "really hurt."

Cameron spent five hours at Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry, where he received stitches, and later had to go back for further treatment.

His mother Jayne Cox - who at first thought her son was playing a practical joke when he told her he had been bitten by a dog - said she was "absolutely horrified."

"His face was white with shock and his arm was dripping with blood," said Mrs Cox, 38, of Earlsdon, Coventry.

Despite the severity of last week's attack, both Cameron and his mother insisted the dog should not be blamed.

West Midlands Police said that an investigation was under way and the animal had been taken off duty.

No suspects were arrested after the police chase, a spokesman added. The dog handler is to visit Cameron on Monday to check on his recovery.

The Home Office said it had no figures on police dogs attacking innocent bystanders. In 1998, 14-year-old Mark Radcliffe needed a metal plate inserted in his arm after it was crushed by a police alsatian in Manchester. The dog's handler was ordered to pay £3,000 compensation.